Minimizing Non-Revenue Water With MJK

Danish water supplier Birkerød Vandforsyning has since year 2000 been sectioning their grid. The sectioning has several purposes; to lower the risk of spreading pollution of the drinking water, to get a better and more detailed overview of consumption in the individual sections, and very importantly – to monitor the consumption - especially the night flow between 3-5 A.M.

By storing the data showing consumption in a section, you can map a graph for a given weekday. Jens-Ejnar Kristensen, Operating Manager in Birkerød Vandforsyning explains, ”The consumption varies from day to day, but over time, the individual weekdays are actually pretty comparable. Regarding level of consumption, Mondays look like Mondays and Saturdays look like Saturdays. If we have a leak in a section, we can see an overall increase in the section.”

Today, the grid is divided into 14 sections making the sections of such size that even a small leak is view-able on the graph.

For measurement, data logging and transfer, MJK delivered MagFlux and Mµ Connect. But also the fully mounted panels, and water detecting electrodes to secure the electronic parts in the well are delivered by MJK.

One of the challenges of creating the online system has been transferring the data straight from the hardware in the decentral wells directly into Birkerøds Aquis system delivered by Krüger. The data needed to be online so the decentral wells have had to have power installed. The bonus is receiving real-time measurement of pressure, flow and temperature.

We actually find leaks or breaches faster today than previously....We have reached this goal because of our ambition of taking care of our water resources. But we can of course also see on our net-earnings that we have minimized non-revenue water.

Jens-Ejnar Kristensen · Operating Manager

The first stations transferred data in a cloud from where it was downloaded to the SCADA system. This system had challenges as well as a rather expensive data transfer fee. But MJK now delivers the Mµ Connect with a build-in 3G modem that can create a direct connection to SCADA. All that it needs is a fixed IP address from the data transfer provider.“We have tested on two stations using the new transfer; it is only between 20-30MB per month. That means that we can handle our operation on the lowest data transfer subscription on the market.” Jens Ejnar elaborates.

Solving issues“There are always issues when assignments need part-solutions from several companies, but we felt that we were working with professional partners, that wouldn’t rest until the problems were solved”, Jens-Ejnar explains.

MJK and Danish Engineering giant, Krüger assigned developers that through meeting sessions found the common solution that was needed to make the two different technologies communicate perfectly.

That is why Birkerød Vandforsyning today has a very detailed overview of their drinking water grid. Data is now provided by 3G build-in modems in Mµ Connect, to keep the monthly cost at a minimum.

By the screen, Jens-Ejnar looks at the SCADA overview, “We actually find leaks or breaches faster today than previously. It is important to us to have a water loss significantly below the 10% that the government has targeted for water delivery in Denmark. We have reached this goal because of our ambition of taking care of our water resources. But we can of course also see from our net-earnings that we have minimized non-revenue water in our county.”

Birkerød is now upgrading the wells when needed. They are very aware that installing MagFlux and Mµ Connect will help minimize non-revenue water and Mµ Connect can even operate decentral pumps or valves. “We know that the equipment and our software can communicate professionally without the monthly costs of data transfer exploding. And we are getting a better and better overview and statistics. We can even control the equipment using the MJK APP, on-site instead of expanding the number of installed equipment such as motor valves.” Jens-Ejnar finishes.

A bonus for MJK and our users is, that collaborating with Birkerød and Krüger, have helped us create a new Mµ Connect firmware that secures an even more stable and secure data transfer.